A current mirror that compensates for the effects of gate current leakage related to quantum mechanical tunneling of electrons. An embodiment of the current mirror of the present invention comprises a first reference current leg, first and second current mirror legs and a load leg. current compensation devices are operable to provide current compensation components to offset the effects of gate current leakage. In one embodiment of the invention the current compensation components comprise p-type CMOS transistors.
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1. A current mirror, comprising:
a first leg comprising a reference current source operable to generate a reference current;
a first mirror current leg comprising a first p-type CMOS transistor and a first n-type transistor;
a second mirror current leg comprising a second p-Type CMOS transistor and a second n-type transistor;
a load leg comprising a third p-type transistor and a load; and
compensation circuitry operable to compensate for gate current leakage in said first, second and third p-type CMOS transistors.
11. A method of operating a current mirror circuit having a reference leg, first and second mirror legs each comprising a p-type CMOS transistor and a n-type transistor, and a load leg comprising p-type CMOS transistor and a load comprising:
generating a reference current in said reference leg of said current mirror circuit;
using said reference current to control the flow of current in said first and second mirror legs and said load leg of said current mirror circuit;
compensating for gate current leakage in said p-type CMOS transistors in said first and second mirror legs and the load leg, thereby generating a current flow in said load leg equal to the current flow in said reference leg.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of current mirrors used in integrated circuits. More specifically, the present invention provides an improved current mirror that compensates for the effects of current mismatch related to gate leakage in semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
A current mirror is a current source that generates an output current that is controlled by an input reference current. Current mirrors are employed in a wide variety of applications where it is necessary to have an accurate, reliable current source. Current mirrors are particularly useful for accurately replicating a reference current source at multiple locations in a circuit.
Many of the advances in size reduction of complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistors in integrated circuits in recent years have been based on the concept of scaling. The scaling concept is based on the theory that a large CMOS transistor can be “scaled” to produce a smaller CMOS transistor having similar operational characteristics. One of the limitations to the scaling concept, however, relates to the phenomenon of quantum mechanical tunneling of electrons through very thin gate oxide layers. In deep submicron design, gate oxide thickness is scaled essentially to a few layers of silicon atoms. Therefore, direct tunneling currents become significant factors in operation of circuits such as current mirrors. Direct tunneling currents in the CMOS components used to implement a current mirror can become so pronounced that the reference and the mirrored output currents are no longer equal, thereby destroying the benefit of using a current mirror.
Because of the current mismatches that can result in a current mirror due to gate leakage currents in CMOS circuit components, there is a need for an improved current mirror that is capable of compensating for the effects of gate current leakage.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a current mirror that compensates for the effects of gate current leakage related to quantum mechanical tunneling of electrons. The current mirror of the present invention comprises a first reference current leg, first and second current mirror legs and a load leg. In the present invention, current compensation devices are operable to provide current compensation components to offset the effects of gate current leakage. In one embodiment of the invention the current compensation devices comprise P-type CMOS transistors.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the current mirror comprises a first reference leg operable to provide a reference current that is passed through an N-type CMOS reference transistor connected in a diode configuration. A first mirror leg of the current mirror comprises a first P-type CMOS transistor and a first N-type CMOS transistor. A second mirror leg of the current mirror comprises a second P-type CMOS transistor and a second N-type CMOS transistor. Finally, a load leg of the current mirror comprises a third P-type CMOS transistor that delivers the output current to a load. Current leakage through the gates of the P-type CMOS transistors in the first and second current mirror legs and in the output load leg is compensated by first and second P-type compensation transistors that compensate for leakage currents through the gates of the P-type CMOS transistors in the first, second and the load mirror legs.
The method and apparatus of the present invention is not limited to a single current source, but it can also be applied to multiple current sources as well. The applications of the present invention are broad and can be used to improve the performance in virtually all circuits that incorporate current mirror circuits. For example, in one embodiment of the present invention, the load leg of the circuit provides a source current to a charge pump circuit in a phase-locked loop. In this embodiment, the load is composed of switches, a loop filter capacitor and a current sink. Without compensating for gate leakage current as provided by the present invention, the pump up and pump down currents would be mismatched, resulting in a significant phase offset that is highly undesirable.
The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous objects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the same reference number throughout the several figures designates a like or similar element.
As will be understood by those skilled in the art, current mirrors of the type illustrated in
Id(M4)=Id(M2)−Ig(M4)−Ig(M5).
Id(M5), the mirrored current source will in turn copy the current of Id(M4). Specifically:
Id(M5)=Id(M2)−Ig(M4)−Ig(M5).
In practice, P-type CMOS devices are often sized to be larger than the N-type CMOS counterparts to achieve similar output swing. In addition, for applications that demand wide output swing range, P-type CMOS devices can be sized quite large. Therefore, the direct tunneling currents can become significant and can cause substantial current mismatch.
In the present invention, it is possible to neglect channel length modulation since this effect can be reduced by using transistors having longer channel lengths or by employing circuit techniques such as cascoding and/or regulation. It is also possible to ignore all gate leakage currents associated with N-type CMOS transistors because gate leakage in these devices has a negligible impact in the context of the present invention.
In an embodiment of the present invention illustrated in
In the present invention, transistor M7 is connected in a diode configuration and is operable to sense and to supply the amount of current lost by gate leakage due to Ig(M4), Ig(M5), and Ig(M6). Transistor M8 then copies the current of M7 and the copied current is added back to the load leg of the current mirror.
As illustrated in the following equations, the current mismatch of prior art current mirrors is eliminated by the present invention:
*Id(M1)=Id(M2)=Id(M3)=Iref
*Id(M4)=Id(M2)−Ig(M4)−Ig(M5)−Ig(M6)=Id(M5)=Id(M6);
*Since Id(M3)=Id(M6)+Id(M7)=Id(M2)−Ig(M4)−Ig(M5)−Ig(M6)+Id(M7) and Id(M3)=Id(M2).
*Therefore, Id(M7)=Ig(M4)+Ig(M5)+Ig(M6)=Id(M8)=>gate leakage has been compensated.
The compensation technique described above is not limited to duplicating a single current source, but it can also be applied to duplicating multiple current sources as well.
The present invention can be used to compensate for the effects of gate leakage in virtually any circuit that incorporates current mirror circuits.
Operation of the present invention has been verified by performing simulations for each of the configurations discussed herein. Three configurations of the current mirror of the present invention have been simulated to verify operation of the present invention.
Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
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